Vienna

Because we spent actual Christmas in South Africa, we decided to take a weekend trip to somewhere really Christmasy in December so we didn't miss out completely.  We decided to go to Vienna - partly because we'd heard it was beautiful, but mostly because Vienna is famous for its Christkindlmarkt - Christmas street markets that are held the entire Advent season and originated in Austria and Germany.  So what better place to experience the real deal than Vienna?

The first day we walked around the city - I love seeing the architecture of each new European city.  They are all so different from each other in their own way.  Vienna has lots of mint green and kind of a pale salmon color on the buildings:

Vienna does an amazing job with its Christmas lights - here is a main street in the middle of town with giant twinkle light chandeliers strung between the buildings:

My grandmother and mother have displayed these for Christmas my whole life - they are candle pyramids that spin with the heat of the candles when lit.  I don't have one yet, I should have purchased one in Vienna but I was afraid I would break it on the plane ride home!  We were on Easy Jet, they are not known for treating their customers (or their baggage) with care.  

Hot mugs of Gluhwien - delicious mulled wine!  It was so yummy, we got mugs every day.

I loved these goodies - the pope and the devil together!  I saw these little devil faces everywhere and my friend Magdalene has family in Austria so she found out what the deal was.  Apparently Dec. 5 is Krampustag - Krampus is kind of a devil.  He accompanies Saint Nicholas and punishes bad children.  When Krampus finds a particularly bad child, he stuffs the child in his sack and carries him or her away to his lair, presumably to devour them for his Christmas dinner!  How cheerful and merry!  

More yummy Christmas treats:

The Christmas chandeliers all lit up:

St. Stephen's cathedral - consecrated in 1147:

Inside the cathedral:

This picture is deceptive about the light in the church, I had my camera set to let in more light so I could capture the inside of the cathedral, but in real life it was much darker.  They had no electric lights on, the whole thing was lit by candles and the sun had already set a good bit so it was nice and gothic feeling inside!  

More Christmas decorations:

A procession carrying the Virgin Mary (I assume, I don't know that for sure).  There were about 150 people and they were all singing hymns:

I have blogged about my love of French macarons before.  I adore them.  If there's any way to ruin them, McDonald's has figured it out. 

The lobby of our hotel:

Out at a Christmas market:

This building was straight out of a fairy tale:

The grounds at the Belvedere museum where Gustav Klimt's painting "The Kiss" is kept:

I have blogged about the disappointment of seeing the Mona Lisa in person, not because of its size, but because you can't get close enough to it to truly appreciate such a work of art.  I had the opposite reaction to The Kiss, the colors are AMAZING in person.  Truly breathtaking.  Especially the golds and how he used gold leaf.  I could have looked at this one for hours.  

Outside Schonbrunn Palace:

The inside of Schonbrunn was disappointing (I thought), but the grounds were spectacular:

At the back of the grounds on top of a hill stands the Gloriette, a structure designed to glorify Habsburg power:  

Halfway up the hill:

Halfway up the hill off the main path:

Looking down at the city from the Gloriette:

The cafe inside the Gloriette:

Schonbrunn at night:

This is in the airport on our way home to London - that glass cage is a tiny enclosed space especially for crazy smokers who need another cigarette before getting on a plane.  Doesn't that look miserable?  It reminds me of that tube thing you have to use at the drive through of a bank!  

Edinburgh, Scotland

My friend Rachel came into town back in November and I told her we had just recently gone to Edinburgh, Scotland, with Stephen's parents.  She joked with me - so, we can expect to read that blog in March?  She was almost correct.  Here it is!

Stephen's parents came to visit us in London back in October - while Stephen was at work one day we had a golf cart tour around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.  It's a great way to see the whole thing in about an hour.  Phillip and Sandra:

Us after dinner one night:

They were with us in London for a couple days and then we all flew up to Edinburgh.  Edinburgh is a very old city, founded before the 7th century, and is the second largest city in Scotland (the largest being Glasgow).  It looks old, it has a much older and darker feel than London.  I really like it...

The Royal Mile is a stretch of road in the old town that leads from the Holyrood Abbey up to Edinburgh Castle.  

Walking into Edinburgh Castle:

Edinburgh Castle sits on a big chunk of volcanic rock ("Castle Rock") which gives it a high vantage point across the city and the water below.  There has been a royal castle or fortress here since at least the 12th century.

Looking down on the city and the bay:

Every day at 1:00 p.m. this cannon is still fired:

Off with my head:

Barracks where prisoners were kept:

Prisoners often carved their names into the wood - I thought it was interesting that the handwriting was so nice compared to today's prison carvings (not that I would really know):

We stopped for a break in the Missoni Hotel - all decked out in Missoni colors:

This was one of my favorite things to see - the Melrose Abbey.  It was established in 1136 and is where the heart (just the heart) of Robert the Bruce is buried.  

I love old ruins of abbeys, they have such beautiful architectural lines:

The burial spot of Robert the Bruce's heart:

This was my other favorite thing - Floors Castle.  It is the seat (and personal home) of the Duke of Roxburghe.  Little kids grow up here.  

It was incredible inside, I wish I had pictures but they weren't allowed!  Here's Stephen and his parents (if you can make them out) standing in back:

The view of the Scottish countryside from the front:

This was the doorman of our hotel!  I liked his outfit.

Bagpipes on the Royal Mile:

No trip to Scotland is complete without a whiskey tasting!

The most memorable thing about the trip by far was a tour through something called Mary King's Close.  A close (like "close to you" not "close the door") is kind of like a maze of underground alleyways and streets where businesses and homes used to be - only most of these things were self contained in one room.  It's literally very close.  Families would live in one room, no separate bathroom, very dirty and cramped conditions.  Animals, pigs, etc, would be kept there, too.  And slaughtered there.  Ceilings are barely 6ft high.  When it was originally functioning, before the plague and before the Royal Exchange was built, you could walk out your front door and look straight up and see a sliver of sky above you, with buildings built up on either side.  It has long since been bricked over and is completely underground now, several stories underground in some places (with only a lamp to guide your way).  It was not a pleasant place to be, especially when the plagues hit.  Plague victims were quarantined there, and died there.  There are many ghost stories that come out of this, but nothing affected me as much as the true story of what was used in some places as plaster - horse hair and the ashes of human bodies.  I literally looked up and saw it.  Now that is some recycling.